Veteran right-hander Matt Harvey, who burst to stardom as the young ace of the New York Mets, has retired from baseball after parts of nine seasons in the major leagues. Harvey, 34, announced made the announcement via social media on Friday.
After pitching for Italy in the recent World Baseball Classic, Harvey had been attempting a return to pitching at the highest level, but those efforts ultimately came to grief.
A former No. 7 overall pick out of the University of North Carolina in 2010, Harvey moved quickly up the rungs of the Mets' system and reached the majors in late July 2012. Harvey truly broke out in 2013, his second season in the majors. Leaning heavily on his mid-90s fastball, Harvey as a 24-year-old pitched to a 2.27 ERA with 191 strikeouts and 30 unintentional walks in 178 1/3 innings. For his efforts, he was selected to the All-Star team and finished fourth in the National League Cy Young voting. Soon after, however, Harvey came down with elbow problems and eventually underwent Tommy John surgery that would cost him the 2014 season.
He returned in 2015 and again thrived, albeit not quite to the heights of 2013. The Mets made the World Series that year, and in the late innings of Game 5 against the Royals -- an elimination game for the Mets -- Harvey lobbied successfully to remain in the game for the ninth.
Unfortunately for Harvey and the Mets, he was unable to complete his shutout bid. Harvey yielded a walk and an RBI double before being removed. The Royals tied the game in the ninth and eventually won Game 5 and thus the series in 12 innings.
Harvey's steep decline began soon after, thanks to a succession of injuries -- most notably a case of thoracic outlet syndrome. Deprived of his velocity, Harvey was unable to re-establish himself as a viable major-league starter over the coming years. In May 2018, the Mets traded him to the Reds, and largely unsuccessful stints with the Angels, Royals, and Orioles followed. Harvey last appeared in the majors with Baltimore in 2021 and struggled to a 6.27 ERA across 26 starts. His MLB career thus ends with a record of 50-66 and ERA of 4.42 (91 ERA+).
Despite the ultimately unrealized promise of his earliest seasons, Harvey achieved ace-dom for the Mets, however short-lived it was. As well, Harvey's initial excellence, good looks, and embrace of the New York social scene afforded him a level of "glossy magazine" stardom not often seen in baseball during that time.
